TECHNICAL FIELD
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The present invention relates to a recording material
cutting device to be utilized in an image-forming apparatus such
as a plotter, printer, facsimile and copying machine.
BACKGROUND ART
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In many image-forming apparatus such as of an ink-jet type,
there is intermittently transferred a recording material wound
in a roll shape while drawing out the recording material from
the roll, and there is formed an image of 1 band on the recording
material at a time, by a recording head which reciprocates in
a direction (widthwise direction of the recording material)
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction. Many of such image-forming apparatus
are provided with recording material cutting devices for
cutting away those portions of the recording materials which
have been formed with the pertinent images. Basically,
recording material cutting devices include a cutter blade or
holder means for holding such a cutter blade, and a driving
portion for reciprocating it in the widthwise direction of the
recording material. While the transferring operation of the
recording material is stopped, the cutter blade is to move in
a direction (i.e., widthwise direction of the recording
material) substantially perpendicular to the recording
material transferring direction similarly to the recording head,
to thereby cut the recording material.
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Although cutter edge surfaces have a certain extent of
length, keeping on cutting recording materials at only one point
of a cutter edge surface will result in a rapid abrasion at the
one point to thereby shorten the service life of the cutter blade
itself. Thus, as disclosed in JP-A-8-290387 (290387/1996) of
the present applicant, it has been proposed that the cutter
blade moving in the widthwise direction of the recording
material in a recording material cutting device is to be also
displaced in a direction vertical to the recording material
(up-and-down direction) within a certain extent so as to cut
the recording material by the whole of the cutter blade, to
thereby prolong the service life of the cutter blade.
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The recording material cutting device described in the
JP-A-8-290387 is provided with a cutter rail. When a rotatable
guiding roller is moved in the widthwise direction of the
recording material along a cammed surface (tapered surface)
provided at the lower side of the cutter rail, there is changed,
relative to the recording material, the height of the cutter
blade coupled to the guiding roller. This causes the
substantially whole of the cutter blade to be used to cut the
recording material so as to uniformalize the abrasion of the
cutter blade, to thereby prolong the service life of the cutter
blade.
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Further, there has been known a recording material
cutting device in which a cutter blade is laterally inclined
to a recording material, i.e., the side of the cutter blade is
inclined to the upstream or downstream side in the transferring
direction relative to the surface of the recording material to
a certain extent. FIGS. 35 and 36 show an example of such a
recording material cutting device. FIG. 35 is a perspective view
of the recording material cutting device viewed diagonally from
the above, and FIG. 36 is a cross-sectional view of the cutter
blade portion of the device of FIG. 35 taken along a cross section
including a straight line parallel to the transferring
direction (i.e., direction D) of the recording material.
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The recording material cutting device shown in FIGS. 35
and 36 includes a rotatable guiding roller 64 which is moved
up and down along a cammed surface at the lower side of a cutter
rail 70 when a cutter base 61 is moved along a guiding rail 60
in a direction C. Such an upper and lower movement of the guiding
roller 64 causes a cutter arm 65 to swing about a shaft 63,
thereby causing a cutter holder 66 upwardly urged by a spring
67 to move upwardly and downwardly. The cutter holder 66 has
a lower end provided with a cutter blade 30 so that the cutter
blade 30 moves upwardly and downwardly together with the
movement of the cutter holder 66. Acting as a recording material
placing part is a platen 17 formed with a cutter-aimed groove
31, such that the cutter blade 30 is moved upwardly and
downwardly within the cutter-aimed groove 31 to thereby change
the cutting-in depth for a recording material 13. Such a
mechanism allows to cut the recording material 13, by the whole
of the cutter blade 30 mounted to the lower end of the cutter
holder 66.
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As seen from FIG. 36, the cutter blade 30 is inclinedly
held at the lower end of the cutter holder 66. As a result, upon
starting the cutting of the recording material 13, those
portions of the recording material at the left and right of the
cutter blade 30 in FIG. 36 tend to be cut up upwardly and
downwardly, respectively, i.e., in the different directions.
This reduces the resistance of the recording material 13 against
the cutter blade 30, to thereby improve an entering ability of
the cutter blade 30 into the recording material. As a result,
it becomes possible to restrict the occurrence of such a
phenomenon that the recording material is twisted or creased
to thereby wave or ripple the cut portion of the recording
material upon starting the cutting.
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According to the conventional recording material cutting
device as described above, it certainly becomes possible to
realize such an effect to prolong the service life of the cutter
blade, by upwardly and downwardly displacing the cutter holder
holding the cutter blade in the inclined state, so as to cut
the recording material by the whole of the cutter blade. However,
merely upwardly and downwardly moving the cutter holder changes
that position in the direction D (see FIG. 36) where the cutter
blade cuts the recording material, thereby deviating the cut
portion of the recording material from a straight line and
causing the cut portion to become a curved line, so that the
straightness of the cut portion is deteriorated. Such a
deterioration of the straightness is considerably problematic,
in items such as a business-use poster the dimensions of which
are strictly defined.
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Further, the conventional recording material cutting
device requires the rail having the cammed surface as described
above, so as to cause: the cutter blade moving in the widthwise
direction of the recording material; to be displaced upwardly
and downwardly during the movement of the cutter blade. Such
a rail is to be installed over the full width of the recording
material, to thereby complicate the structure of the device and
cause a difficulty in downsizing the device.
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In the aforementioned recording material cutting device,
the cutter blade located above the recording material is lowered
to thereby enter the recording material while forming an acute
angle between the cutter edge surface and the recording material,
such that the cutter blade travels in the direction (widthwise
direction of the recording material) perpendicular to the
recording material transferring direction to thereby cut the
recording material. In this case, particularly to avoid a
cut-jam where the recording material is buckled or creased upon
starting the cutting, there exists such a recording material
cutting device provided with, near the cutter blade, a seizing
member for resiliently seizing the recording material
downwardly.
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Meantime, keeping on using a certain region of an edge
surface of a cutter blade rapidly wears the certain region and
rapidly deteriorates the cutting quality. When the recording
material is made of paper, the thus deteriorated cutting quality
causes such problems that: the cut portion of the recording
material becomes linty or nappy; the recording material is
buckled to be wavy; and/or the straightness of the sectioned
surface of the recording material is deteriorated after cutting.
When the recording material is a coated paper, the deteriorated
cutting quality may cause particles of the coating agent.
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The deteriorated cutting quality of a cutter blade
requires replacement of: the whole cutter blade; or that region
of the edge surface of the cutter blade which is used to cut
a recording material. The latter situation requires a mechanism
for stepwise changing over: the protruding amount of the edge
of the cutter blade; beyond the aforementioned seizing member,
upon cutting. Those recording material cutting devices provided
with such mechanisms are allowed to effectively use the whole
edge surface of the cutter blade by the changeover, to thereby
advantageously prolong the service life of the cutter blade and
reduce the replacement frequency of the cutter blade. Typically,
cutter blades are provided by integrating materials such as
plastics with edges of metal held by the materials. This is to
reduce the risk such as of injury of user's fingers upon
replacement of the cutter blade, such that the whole of the edge
and the plastics is replaced.
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Meanwhile, even in a recording material cutting device
capable of changing over the recording material cutting region
of the cutter blade by changing or varying the protruding amount
of the edge of the cutter blade, there will be caused the
following problems in case of firstly using the near-root
portion of the cutter blade rather than firstly using the
near-tip portion of the cutter blade.
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Using a cutter blade to cut a recording material may cause
the recording material to be deformed by buckling and/or bending
such as due to the wear of the edge surface and/or an unexpected
accident, as mentioned above. Further, during the cutting by
the near-root portion of the edge, those portions of the edge
which are more extreme than the near-root portion are protruded
beyond the aforementioned seizing member. Thus, when such a
cutter blade is about to forcibly enter the bent and deformed
recording material, the recording material may strike the
unused tip portion of the cutter blade depending on the
deformation of the recording material, and may break the tip
portion. Even partly broken cutter blades in such a way should
be wholly replaced, even if the remaining portions of the cutter
blades are not broken.
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Particularly, when those users unfamiliar with the usage
of the recording material cutting device are to change the
protruding amount of the edge of the cutter blade, such users
are unaware of the appropriate degree of usage of the cutter
blade for changing the protruding amount of the edge. This may
cause such a situation where a certain portion of the edge is
kept used for an excessively long time to thereby break the edge,
so that the cutter blade should be replaced at a period rather
shorter than the inherent service life of the cutter blade.
Further, merely enabling to stepwise change the protruding
amount of the edge of the cutter blade has caused such an
inconvenience to find an appropriate region of the edge by
completely checking the cutting qualities of the respective
regions when the previously used region is forgotten.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
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The present invention has been carried out in view of the
technical circumstances as described above, and it is therefore
an object of the present invention to provide a recording
material cutting device for allowing to simplify the structure
of the device and to downsize the device while having a mechanism
for cutting a recording material by the whole edge of a cutter
blade so as to prolong the service life of the cutter blade.
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It is another object of the present invention to provide
a recording material cutting device capable of improving the
straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
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It is a further object of the present invention to provide
a recording material cutting device: which allows to simplify
the structure of the device and to downsize the device while
having a mechanism for cutting a recording material by the whole
edge of a cutter blade so as to prolong the service life of the
cutter blade; and which is capable of the straightness of the
cut portion of the recording material.
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It is yet another object of the present invention to
provide a recording material cutting device capable of changing
the cutting position of the cutter blade in a predetermined
sequence, thereby assuredly avoiding a situation where the
unused region of the edge surface of the cutter blade is broken,
and thereby effectively using the edge surface of the cutter
blade.
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To achieve the above object, the first invention resides
in a recording material cutting device including a cutter blade
for cutting a recording material by traveling the cutter blade
in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording
material transferring direction, the recording material being
placed and transferred on a recording material placing part of
an image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting
device comprising: cutter blade fixing means fixedly mounted
with the cutter blade; urging means for resiliently urging the
cutter blade fixing means in the direction toward the recording
material placing part; cutter blade traveling means for
traveling, upon the cutting motion, the cutter blade fixing
means together with the urging means in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction and parallelly to the recording material
placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness at its
upper surface and being formed at that portion of the recording
material placing part, which is along the traveling path of the
cutter blade; and recording material seizing means provided
integrally with the cutter blade fixing means, so as to
resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a
state of clamping the recording material between the recording
material seizing means and the cammed surface upon the cutting
motion, to thereby seize the recording material.
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The second invention is subordinated to the first
invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side
surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the direction in
which the cutter blade fixing means is urged, and wherein the
urging means urges the cutter blade fixing means in the
direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part.
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The third invention is subordinated to the first
invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side
surface of the cutter blade is parallel to the direction in which
the cutter blade fixing means is urged, and wherein the urging
means urges the cutter blade fixing means in the direction
inclined from the direction perpendicular to the recording
material placing part.
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The fourth invention resides in a recording material
cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording
material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction, the recording material being placed and
transferred on a recording material placing part of an
image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device
comprising: cutter blade fixing means fixedly mounted with the
cutter blade; cutter blade supporting means rotatably mounted
with the cutter blade fixing means; urging means for resiliently
urging the cutter blade supporting means in the direction toward
the recording material placing part; turn-urging means for
resiliently turn-urging the cutter blade fixing means in the
direction for shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter
blade into the recording material; cutter blade traveling means
for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the cutter blade
supporting means together with the cutter blade fixing means,
the turn-urging means and the urging means, in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction and parallelly to the recording material
placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness at its
upper surface and being formed at that portion of the recording
material placing part, which is along the traveling path of the
cutter blade; and recording material seizing means provided
integrally with the cutter blade fixing means, so as to
resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means in a
state of clamping the recording material between the recording
material seizing means and the cammed surface upon the cutting
motion, to thereby seize the recording material; the recording
material seizing means being adapted to turn, correspondingly
to the shape of the cammed surface, the cutter blade fixing means
against the turn urging force of the turn-urging means, in the
direction for deepening the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade
into the recording material.
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The fifth invention is subordinated to the fourth
invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side
surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the turning-aimed
plane for the cutter blade fixing means; and wherein the cutter
blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting
means such that the turning-aimed plane for the cutter blade
fixing means becomes perpendicular to the recording material
placing part.
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The sixth invention is subordinated to the fourth
invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed such that the side
surface of the cutter blade is parallel to the turning-aimed
plane for the cutter blade fixing means; and wherein the cutter
blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting
means such that the turning-aimed plane for the cutter blade
fixing means is inclined from a plane perpendicular to the
recording material placing part.
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The seventh invention resides in a recording material
cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording
material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction, the recording material being placed and
transferred on a recording material placing part of an
image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device
comprising: cutter blade fixing means fixedly mounted with the
cutter blade; cutter blade supporting means translatably
mounted with the cutter blade fixing means; urging means for
resiliently urging the cutter blade supporting means in the
direction toward the recording material placing part; cutter
blade translating means coupled to the cutter blade fixing means
and rotatably mounted to the cutter blade supporting means, so
as to translate the cutter blade fixing means coupled to the
cutter blade translating means by the rotating motion of the
cutter blade translating means into a direction for deepening
or shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the
recording material; turn-urging means for resiliently turn-urging
the cutter blade translating means in the direction for
shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the
recording material; cutter blade traveling means for traveling,
upon the cutting motion, the cutter blade supporting means
together with the cutter blade fixing means, the cutter blade
translating means, the urging means, and the turn-urging means,
in the direction substantially perpendicular to the recording
material transferring direction and parallelly to the recording
material placing part; a cammed surface having up-and-downness
at its upper surface and being formed at that portion of the
recording material placing part, which is along the traveling
path of the cutter blade; and recording material seizing means
provided integrally with the cutter blade translating means,
so as to resiliently receive the urging force of the urging means
in a state of clamping the recording material between the
recording material seizing means and the cammed surface upon
the cutting motion, to thereby seize the recording material;
the recording material seizing means being adapted to turn,
correspondingly to the shape of the cammed surface, the cutter
blade translating means against the turn urging force of the
turn-urging means, in the direction for deepening the
cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording
material.
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The eighth invention is subordinated to the seventh
invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed to the cutter blade
fixing means such that the side surface of the cutter blade is
inclined from the translating direction; and wherein the cutter
blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting
means such that the translating direction of the cutter blade
fixing means becomes perpendicular to the recording material
placing part.
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The ninth invention is subordinated to the seventh
invention, wherein the cutter blade is fixed to the cutter blade
fixing means such that the side surface of the cutter blade is
parallel to the translating direction; and wherein the cutter
blade fixing means is mounted to the cutter blade supporting
means such that the translating direction of the cutter blade
fixing means is inclined from a direction perpendicular to the
recording material placing part.
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The tenth invention resides in a recording material
cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording
material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction, the recording material being placed and
transferred on a recording material placing part of an
image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device
comprising: rail means installed in the widthwise direction of
the recording material and parallelly to the recording material,
the rail means being formed with a cammed surface at that side
opposing to the recording surface of the recording material;
cutter blade traveling means for traveling along the rail means ;
cutter blade fixing means fixed with the cutter blade at that
side of the cutter blade fixing means which opposes to the
recording material, the cutter blade fixing means being held
by the cutter blade traveling means such that the cutter blade
fixing means is allowed to translate in the direction for
shallowing or deepening the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade
into the recording material; swinging means mounted to the
cutter blade traveling means in a manner to be swingable within
a plane perpendicular to the recording material, the swinging
means being provided with a guiding member for abutting onto
the cammed surface of the rail means and with an abutting member
for abutting onto a part of the cutter blade fixing means; and
urging means mounted to the cutter blade traveling means, so
as to push the guiding member against the cammed surface of the
rail means, to thereby urge the cutter supporting means in a
direction for shallowing the cutting-in depth of the cutter
blade into the recording material.
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The eleventh invention is subordinated to the tenth
invention, wherein the translating direction of the cutter
blade fixing means is inclined from a direction perpendicular
to the recording material; and wherein the cutter blade is fixed
such that the side surface of the cutter blade becomes parallel
to the translating direction of the cutter blade fixing means.
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The twelfth invention resides in a recording material
cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording
material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction, the recording material being placed and
transferred on a recording material placing part of an
image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device
comprising: an independent cutter blade or a cutter blade held
by holding means; accommodating means provided separately from
the cutter blade or holding means, so as to accommodate the
cutter blade or holding means in a manner moveable in the
direction toward the recording material placing part; urging
means for resiliently urging the cutter blade or holding means
and the accommodating means in the direction toward the
recording material placing part; seizing means provided at the
accommodating means, so as to resiliently receive the urging
force of the urging means in a state of clamping the recording
material between the seizing means and the recording material
placing part upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize the
recording material; protruding amount varying means for varying
the amount (protruding amount) of the cutter blade protruding
beyond the accommodating means in the direction toward the
recording material placing part; and traveling means for
traveling, upon the cutting motion, the accommodating means
together with the urging means and the protruding amount varying
means, in a direction which is parallel to the recording
material placing part and substantially perpendicular to the
recording material transferring direction.
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The thirteenth invention resides in a recording material
cutting device including a cutter blade for cutting a recording
material by traveling the cutter blade in the direction
substantially perpendicular to the recording material
transferring direction, the recording material being placed and
transferred on a recording material placing part of an
image-forming apparatus, the recording material cutting device
comprising: an independent cutter blade or a cutter blade held
by holding means; accommodating means provided separately from
the cutter blade or holding means, so as to accommodate the
cutter blade or holding means in a manner moveable in the
direction toward the recording material placing part; urging
means for resiliently urging the cutter blade or holding means
and the accommodating means in the direction toward the
recording material placing part; a cammed surface having
up-and-downness at its upper surface and being formed at that
portion of the recording material placing part, which is along
the traveling direction of the cutter blade; seizing means
provided at the accommodating means, so as to resiliently
receive the urging force of the urging means in a state of
clamping the recording material between the seizing means and
the cammed surface upon the cutting motion, to thereby seize
the recording material; protruding amount varying means for
varying the amount (protruding amount) of the cutter blade
protruding beyond the accommodating means in the direction
toward the recording material placing part; and traveling means
for traveling, upon the cutting motion, the accommodating means
together with the urging means and the protruding amount varying
means, in a direction which is parallel to the recording
material placing part and substantially perpendicular to the
recording material transferring direction.
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The fourteenth invention is subordinated to the
thirteenth invention, wherein the cammed surface is formed such
that the cutter blade is caused to most deeply cut into the
recording material upon breaking into the recording material,
within a region through which the cutter blade passes during
the period from the breaking into the recording material up to
the completion of cutting.
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The fifteenth invention is subordinated to any one of the
twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth inventions, wherein the
protruding amount varying means includes: a protruding amount
varying direction restricted to a direction for increasing the
protruding amount; and indicating means for indicating the
current protruding amount.
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The sixteenth invention is subordinated to any one of the
twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth inventions,
wherein the protruding amount varying means comprises: second
urging means for urging the cutter blade or holding means in
a direction opposite to a direction toward the recording
material placing part, with respect to the accommodating means;
and changeover means located between the cutter blade or holding
means and the accommodating means, so as to receive the urging
force of the second urging means, and so as to stepwise change
over the relative positions between the cutter blade or holding
means and the accommodating means in the direction toward the
recording material placing part.
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The seventeenth invention is subordinated to the
sixteenth invention, wherein the height difference of the
cammed surface is equal to or smaller than one step of the
relative positions between the cutter blade or holding means
and the accommodating means to be changed over by the changeover
means.
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The eighteenth invention is subordinated to either of the
sixteenth and seventeenth inventions, wherein the changeover
means comprises a disc-like member, which disc-like member has
a circumference inscribed with numbers each corresponding to
the protruding amount, and which disc-like member has a rotating
direction restricted to either of clockwise or counterclockwise
correspondingly to the increasing direction of the protruding
amount.
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According to the first through third inventions, the
recording material placing part is provided with the cammed
surface, so that the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into
the recording material is varied as the cutter blade travels,
thereby resultingly allowing to cut the recording material by
using the whole of the cutter blade, to thereby prolong the
service life of the cutter blade and to eliminate the necessity
of a cutter rail having been required in the conventional device
so as to vary the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into a
recording material. This allows to readily simplify the
structure of the device and to downsize the device.
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According to the third invention, the side surface of the
cutter blade is fixed in a state parallel to the urging direction
of the cutter blade fixing means, and the cutter blade fixing
means is urged in a direction inclined from the direction
perpendicular to the recording material placing part, thereby
allowing to improve the straightness of the cut portion of the
recording material.
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According to the fourth through sixth inventions, there
are provided the turn-urging means in addition to the urging
means, and the recording material seizing means formed
integrally with the rotatably mounted cutter blade fixing means.
Thus, in addition to the effects according to the first through
third inventions, it becomes possible to reduce the up-and-downness
of the recording material placing part required to
change the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade as compared with
the first through third inventions, and the straightness of the
cut portion of the recording material can be improved to that
extent.
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According to the sixth invention, the side surface of the
cutter blade is fixed in a state parallel to the turning-aimed
plane of the cutter blade fixing means and the cutter blade
fixing means is mounted to be inclined from a direction
perpendicular to the recording material placing part, to
thereby further improve the straightness of the cut portion of
the recording material.
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According to the seventh through ninth inventions, the
cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material
is varied by the translation of the cutter blade relative to
the recording material upon the cutting motion. Thus, in
addition to the effects of the first through sixth inventions,
the angle between the edge surface of the cutter blade and the
recording material is kept substantially constant throughout
the cutting motion from the starting to the ending, to thereby
stabilize the cutting motion.
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According to the ninth invention, the side surface of the
cutter blade is mounted parallelly to the cutter blade fixing
means and the cutter blade fixing means translates in a state
inclined from the direction perpendicular to the recording
material placing part, thereby allowing to improve the
straightness of the cut portion of the recording material.
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According to the tenth and eleventh inventions, the
cutting-in depth of the cutter blade into the recording material
is changed by the cammed surface of the rail means when the cutter
blade travels, thereby resultingly allow to cut the recording
material by the whole of the cutter blade. This enables to
prolong the service life of the cutter blade similarly to the
conventional. Further, the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade
into the recording material is varied by the translation of the
cutter blade relative to the recording material upon the cutting
motion. Thus, the angle between the edge surface of the cutter
blade and the recording material is kept substantially constant
throughout the cutting motion from the starting to the ending,
to thereby stabilize the cutting motion.
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According to the eleventh invention, the side surface of
the cutter blade is fixed parallelly to the translating
direction of the cutter blade fixing means, and the cutter blade
fixing means is translated in the direction inclined from the
direction perpendicular to the recording material placing part,
to thereby allow to improve the straightness of the cut portion
of the recording material.
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According to the twelfth through eighteenth inventions,
there is provided the protruding amount varying means for
changing over the region of the cutter blade for cutting the
recording material. Thus, the substantially whole of the edge.
surface of the cutter blade can be effectively used, to thereby
prolong the service life of the cutter blade, as compared with
the situation for using only a part of the edge surface of the
cutter blade. Further, the direction of the protruding amount
varying means for changing over the cutting region of the cutter
blade is restricted to the direction from the tip end portion
toward the root of the cutter blade. Thus, even when the
recording material is deformed somehow and the cutter blade has
entered the deformed portion, the recording material never
strikes the unused portion of the cutter blade, thereby allowing
to keep on using the cutter blade until the inherent service
life of the cutter blade is fulfilled.
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According to the thirteenth invention, there is further
formed the cammed surface at that portion of the recording
material placing part which is along the traveling direction
of the cutter blade, to thereby allow to cut the recording
material by using a certain width of each of the switchable
regions of the cutter blade. Thus, it becomes possible to
prolong the period of time where each of the switchable regions
of the cutter blade is worn, as compared with a situation where
the recording material is cut only by a single point of each
cutting region. As a result, the service life of the whole of
the cutter blade can be effectively prolonged.
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According to the fifteenth invention, there is provided
the indicating means for indicating the current protruding
amount of the cutter blade. Thus, even when those users
unfamiliar with the usage of the recording material cutting
device are to conduct the switching operation of the cutter
blade, the users are allowed to assuredly change over to the
region to be used next. This assuredly avoids such mistakes that
the cutter blade is replaced while leaving the unused portions,
and/or that the already used and worn portion of the cutter blade
is used again to thereby bend and/or buckle the recording
material.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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- FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an ink-jet
recording device taken along a plane perpendicular to a
traveling direction of a carriage (i.e., plane including a
straight line parallel to the recording material transferring
direction);
- FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a cutter
unit 112 of FIG. 1;
- FIG. 3 is a front view of the cutter unit 112 in a taken-out
state;
- FIG. 4 is a front view of the cutter unit 112 in a taken-out
state;
- FIG. 5 is a front view corresponding to FIG. 3;
- FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of the vicinity of a cutter
blade;
- FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view of the vicinity of the
cutter blade;
- FIG. 8 is a front view of a recording material cutting
device according to an embodiment 3;
- FIG. 9 is a front view of the recording material cutting
device according to the embodiment 3;
- FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a cutter unit of a
recording material cutting device according to an embodiment
4;
- FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a recording material
cutting device according to an embodiment 5;
- FIG. 12 is a front view from a downstream side of the
recording material cutting device according to the embodiment
5;
- FIG. 13 is a front view from a downstream side of the
recording material cutting device according to the embodiment
5;
- FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a recording material
cutting device according to an embodiment 6;
- FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the recording
material cutting device according to the embodiment 6, taken
along, at a cutter blade portion, a vertical plane including
a straight line parallel to an arrow D in FIG. 14;
- FIG. 16 is a diagonally front perspective view of the
whole of an image-forming apparatus (color plotter) provided
with a recording material cutting device according to an
embodiment 7;
- FIG. 17 is a diagonally rear perspective view of the whole
of the color plotter of FIG. 16;
- FIG. 18 is a partially cut-away perspective view
precisely showing the color plotter shown in FIG. 16 and FIG.
17;
- FIG. 19 is a view (front view) of the recording material
cutting device viewed from a downstream side of the transferring
direction of a recording material 704;
- FIG. 20 is a view (front view) of the recording material
cutting device viewed from a downstream side of the transferring
direction of the recording material 704;
- FIG. 21 is a view (front view) of the recording material
cutting device viewed from a downstream side of the transferring
direction of the recording material 704;
- FIG. 22 is a view (front view) of the recording material
cutting device viewed from a downstream side of the transferring
direction of the recording material 704;
- FIG. 23 is a side view of the recording material cutting
device viewed from the left side of FIG. 19 through FIG. 22;
- FIG. 24 is a front view for explaining a member provided
at an upper portion of a holder so as to engage with a carriage;
- FIG. 25 is a rear view of the recording material cutting
device shown in FIG. 24;
- FIG. 26 is a partially cut-away view of the holder shown
in FIG. 25, for explaining the inner structure of the holder;
- FIG. 27 is a view of an interior unit taken out from the
holder;
- FIG. 28 is a view of the interior unit taken out from the
holder;
- FIG. 29 is a view showing a state where the interior unit
is taken out from the holder so as to section a disc-like dial
at a central portion in a thickness direction of the dial along
a plane parallelly to the obverse and reverse faces of the dial;
- FIG. 30 is a view showing a state where the interior unit
is taken out from the holder to detach the dial from the interior
unit and to partly cut away a blade slider 751;
- FIG. 31 is a view showing a reverse side of the dial;
- FIG. 32 is a view showing a state of a platen of the plotter
when viewed from the downstream side of FIG. 18;
- FIG. 33 is an X-X cross-sectional view of the platen shown
in FIG. 32;
- FIG. 34 is a view showing a way as to how a
recording-material cutting region of a cutter blade is changed
correspondingly to a changeover motion of a protruding amount
of the cutter blade and to a traveling motion of the cutter blade
along a cammed portion;
- FIG. 35 is a perspective view showing an example of a
conventional recording material cutting device; and
- FIG. 36 is a cross-sectional view of the cutter blade
portion of the device of FIG. 35 taken along a cross section
including a straight line parallel to the recording material
transferring direction.
-
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
-
There will be described hereinafter an "embodiment 1"
through an "embodiment 7" which are the best modes for
practicing the present invention, with reference to the
accompanying drawings. It is assumed that the recording
material cutting devices according to the "embodiment 1"
through "embodiment 6" are utilized for an ink-jet recording
device as an exemplary image recording device, and the recording
material cutting device according to the "embodiment 7" is
utilized for a color plotter.
-
Note, in each of FIG. 1 through FIG. 15 to be referred
to in the description of the "embodiment 1" through "embodiment
6", reference numerals having the same lower 2-digits represent
those mutually identical or corresponding elements, among those
reference numerals designating respective portions of the
device and the like. Further, in each of FIG. 1 through FIG.
15, the arrow C (widthwise direction of the recording material),
arrow D (recording material transferring direction) and arrow
H (up-and-down direction) consistently designate their
attributed directions, respectively.
[Embodiment 1]
-
FIG. 1 through FIG. 4 show a recording material cutting
device of an embodiment 1. Among them, FIG. 1 is a schematic
cross-sectional view of an ink-jet recording device 100 taken
along a plane perpendicular to a traveling direction of a
carriage (i.e., plane including a straight line parallel to the
recording material transferring direction), and FIG. 2 is an
enlarged cross-sectional view of a cutter unit 112 of FIG. 1.
-
As shown in FIG. 1, the ink-jet recording device 100 is
installed with a carriage 110 which reciprocally travels along
a guiding rail 111 in a direction perpendicular to the drawing
plane of FIG. 1. The carriage 110 is mounted with a cutter unit
112 so that the cutter unit 112 travels together with the
carriage 110. During a printing motion, there is intermittently
transferred a recording material (typically, paper) 113 by a
transferring roller 118 in the right-to-left direction
(designated by an arrow D) in FIG. 1 by a predetermined feeding
amount.
-
There is provided a fan 115 below the recording material
113, so as to suck the recording material 113. When this fan
115 is rotated in a direction for sucking air via vent holes
116 provided at a platen 117 acting as a recording material
placing part, the recording material 113 is sucked on the platen
117 thereunder by an appropriate sucking force.
-
At the surface for placing the recording material 113,
the platen 117 is formed with a cutter-aimed groove 131 along
a direction which the cutter unit 112 travels in. Upon cutting
the recording material 113, there is moved a cutter holder 122
(corresponding to the "cutter blade fixing means" recited in
the pertinent claims) in the reverse-to-obverse direction of
the drawing plane of FIG. 2 under a condition that the cutter
blade 130 is brought into the cutter-aimed groove 131, and upon
reaching the end portion of the cutter-aimed groove 131, the
cutter blade is drawn out of the cutter-aimed groove 131 (i.e.,
lifted upwardly) and the cutter holder 122 is moved in the
obverse-to-reverse direction.
-
As shown in FIG. 2, the cutter holder 122 made of plastics
has a lower end portion for fixedly holding a cutter blade 130
made of metal in a manner that the side surface of the edge is
slightly inclined from a vertical plane. Further, as shown in
FIG. 2, there is provided a cammed portion 132 integrated with
the platen 117 or formed as the platen 117 itself, at the upper
portion of that wall at the downstream side in the recording
material transferring direction (direction D), of the walls
interposing the cutter-aimed groove 131 therebetween. The wall
at the upstream side of the transferring direction (direction
D) is formed to be higher than the upper surface (cammed surface)
of the cammed portion 132. Such an inclination of the side
surface of the edge relative to the vertical plane and the height
difference between the walls at both sides of the cutter-aimed
groove 131 are designed such that the angle formed between the
side surface of the cutter blade 130 and the recording material
113 becomes an appropriate value inclined from a right angle.
-
Setting the angle formed between the side surface of the
cutter blade 130 and the recording material 113 at such a value
causes those portions of the recording material 113 at the right
and left of the cutter blade 130 in FIG. 2 to tend to be cut
up downwardly and upwardly, respectively, i.e., in the mutually
different directions. This reduces the resistance of the
recording material 113 relative to the cutter blade 130, to
thereby improve an entering ability of the cutter blade 130 into
the recording material 113, thereby resultingly allowing to
restrict the occurrence of such a phenomenon that the recording
material is twisted or creased. Such a technique to improve the
entering ability of the cutter blade upon starting the cutting
by inclining the side surface of the cutter blade relative to
the recording material is shown in Japanese Patent Application
No. HEI-9-266184 (266184/1997) filed by the present applicant.
-
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are front views of the cutter unit 112
in a taken-out state (viewed from a direction opposite to the
arrow D in FIG. 1). Note, although the actual dimension of the
ink-jet recording device 100 is laterally wider than what are
shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, such a dimension is shown in a
shortened manner than the actual lateral length so as to clarify
the features of the ink-jet recording device 100.
-
The cutter unit 112 is constituted to include: a cutter
pressurizing spring 120 (corresponding to "urging means"
recited in pertinent claims); a cutter case 121; a cutter holder
122; a seizing member 123; and a rotatably provided cutter
roller 125 (omitted in FIG. 3). The seizing member 123 is formed
integrally with the cutter holder 122 out of the same material
as the cutter holder 122, via coupling portion 123a, so as to
have an appropriate resiliency. As described above, the cutter
blade 130 made of metal is fixedly held at the lower end portion
of the cutter holder 122, such that the side surface of the edge
is slightly inclined from the vertical direction. The cutter
holder 122 is accommodated in the cutter case 121 in an upwardly
and downwardly moveable manner, and the cutter holder 122 is
normally urged downwardly by the cutter pressurizing spring
120.
-
The cutter holder 122 is integrally formed with a hook
pawl 124 for engaging with a recessed portion 129 provided at
the upper portion of the cutter case 121 during the stand-by
period of the cutter unit 112 such as the period of time for
the printing motion where no cutting motion for the recording
material is conducted. This causes the cutter holder 122 to be
held at the upper position within the cutter case 121, against
the downward urging force from the cutter pressurizing spring
120.
-
Upon the cutting motion for the recording material 113,
the cutter unit 112 firstly moves leftwardly together with the
carriage 110 in FIG. 3. There is provided a hook pawl releasing
plate 128 at the leftmost end of the traveling region of the
cutter unit 112, so that the hook pawl 124 is disengaged from
the recessed portion 129 when the hook pawl 124 is struck by
the hook pawl releasing plate 128 by the movement of the cutter
unit 112. Disengaging the hook pawl 124 from the recessed
portion 129 causes: the cutter holder 122 downwardly urged by
the cutter pressurizing spring 120; to be instantaneously
lowered. This downward urging force of the cutter holder 122
is received or stopped by such an action that the seizing member
123 abuts onto the cammed surface at the upper side of the cammed
portion 132 so that the seizing member 123 yields in the
clockwise direction in a state that the recording material 113
is clamped between the seizing member 123 and the cammed surface,
to thereby cause a tip end portion 123b of the seizing member
123 to bump against a bump portion 122a at the bottom of the
cutter holder 122 as shown in FIG. 3.
-
The urging force of the cutter pressurizing spring 120,
the resilient force of the seizing member 123, and the length
of the tip end portion 123b of the seizing member 123 are designed
such that the cutter blade 130 is brought into the cutter-aimed
groove 131 by an amount suitable for cutting the recording
material 113 when the seizing member 123 has abutted against
the cammed surface of the cammed portion 132. The seizing member
123 is downwardly pressurized by the cutter pressurizing spring
120 in this way, thereby firmly seizing the recording material
113. This allows to prevent the recording material 113 from
being twisted, creased or bent, particularly upon starting the
cutting motion.
-
During the cutting motion of the recording material 113,
the seizing member 123 abuts onto the upper surface of the cammed
portion 132 in a state clamping the recording material 113
therebetween, and the whole of the cutter unit 112 moves in the
left-to-right direction (i.e., the direction designated by the
arrow C) in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper surface of
the cammed portion 132 is formed with the cammed surface which
is high at the central portion and low at the starting point
side and the ending point side. Note, although the actual height
difference of the up-and-downness is on the order of a few
millimeters correspondingly to the height difference between
the tip end and the root of the edge surface of the cutter blade
130, such a height difference is slightly exaggerated for better
understanding in FIG. 3.
-
The height of the cammed portion 132 is low, at the left
side in FIG. 3 where the cutter unit 112 is positioned upon
starting the cutting motion. Thus, when the seizing member 123
abuts onto this portion of the cammed portion 132, the cutter
blade 130 is deeply brought into the cutter-aimed groove 131.
Since the cutter blade 130 is positioned near the upstream side
wall within the cutter-aimed groove 131 in the transferring
direction (direction D) as shown in FIG. 2, the recording
material 113 is cut by the near-root portion of the edge surface
of the cutter blade 130 when the cutter blade 130 is deeply
brought into the cutter-aimed groove 131.
-
As the whole of the cutter unit 112 horizontally moves
from the left toward the right in FIG. 3 during the cutting motion,
the seizing member 123 gradually moves upwardly along the cammed
surface of the cammed portion 132, to thereby lift up the cutter
holder 122 and the cutter blade 130 held at the tip end of the
cutter holder 122. Simultaneously with the above, the depth of
the cutter blade 130 brought into the cutter-aimed groove 131
is gradually shallowed, so that the cutter blade 130 is caused
to cut the recording material 113 at the more distal portion
of the edge surface.
-
When the cutter unit 112 has come to the central portion
of the cammed portion 132, the seizing member 123 reaches the
highest position, and the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade
130 is shallowed to the minimum, so that the cutter blade 130
cuts the recording material 113 at the near-tip portion of the
cutter blade 130. As the cutter unit 112 has passed the central
portion of the cammed portion 132 and further moves rightwardly,
the position of the seizing member 123 is gradually lowered and
simultaneously therewith the cutting-in amount of the cutter
blade 130 is also deepened, such that the cutter blade 130 cuts
the recording material 113 again at the near-root portion of
the cutter blade 130 upon reaching the rightmost portion in FIG.
3. Thus, the cutter blade 130 cuts the recording material 113
by using the substantially whole of the edge surface, while the
cutter unit 112 makes a movement from the left end to the right
end of its stroke.
-
In this way, cutting the recording material 113 by the
whole of the edge of the cutter blade 130 drastically prolongs
the service life of the cutter blade, as compared with the
cutting situation only by a part of an edge of a cutter blade.
This way to use the whole of the edge is disclosed in the
aforementioned JP-A-8-290387.
-
However, the recording material cutting device disclosed
in the JP-A-8-290387 is provided with a rail for moving a cutter
blade upwardly and downwardly, such that this rail is provided
with a cammed portion (tapered portion) having a varying height
to thereby upwardly and downwardly move the cutter blade
traveling in the widthwise direction of the recording material
along the rail.
-
Contrary, the recording material cutting device of this
embodiment is provided with the cammed portion 132 having its
upper side cammed surface, on the downstream one of those walls
interposing therebetween the cutter-aimed groove 131 in the
transferring direction, such that the cutter unit 112 is
traveled while bringing the seizing member 123 formed
integrally with the cutter holder 122 to abut onto such a cammed
surface. This allows to obtain the same effect as the
conventional recording material cutting device, from the
viewpoint to prolong the service life of a cutter blade.
-
The recording material cutting device of this embodiment
further eliminates: the necessity of the aforementioned cutter
rail to thereby simplify the structure of the device; and the
necessity of the space for installing such a cutter rail thereby
allowing to downsize the whole of the recording material cutting
device. This aspect is a remarkable merit, as compared with the
conventional recording material cutting device.
-
As shown in FIG. 2, the cutter roller 125 provided at the
downstream side position in the transferring direction
(direction D) of the cutter unit 112 has a rotary shaft fixed
to the cutter holder 122. The cutter roller 125 is in a state
separated from other members, such as during the stand-by period
of the cutter unit 112 and during the cutting of the recording
material.
-
However, when the cutter unit 112 has reached the vicinity
of the rightmost portion in the traveling region thereof shown
in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, the cutter roller 125 abuts onto a roller
guide 135 provided at the rightmost portion in FIG. 3. Since
the roller guide 135 has a predetermined inclining angle, the
cutter roller 125 is rotated and upwardly moved to thereby lift
the whole of the cutter holder 122 when the cutter roller 125
further travels rightwardly after contacting with the roller
guide 135. When the cutter holder 122 has been lifted up to a
certain height, the hook pawl 124 formed integrally with the
cutter holder 122 engages with the recessed portion 129 provided
at the upper portion of the cutter case 121, so that the cutter
holder 122 is again held at an upper position within the cutter
case 121 against the downward urging force by the cutter
pressurizing spring 120. Thereafter, while the cutter unit 112
travels leftwardly in FIG. 3 to thereby revert to such a stand-by
position which is a situation just before the hook pawl 124 is
struck by the hook pawl releasing plate 128, there is maintained
the state where the cutter holder 122 is kept at the upper
position within the cutter case 121.
-
In this embodiment, the upper cammed surface of the cammed
portion 132 is formed such that the central portion is high and
the starting point side and ending point side are low as shown
in FIG. 3. However, it is possible to form the cammed surface
such that one and the other of the starting point and ending
point are high and low, respectively, to thereby form a simply
tapered shape, or such that the high and low portions are
repeated several times along the traveling path of the cutter
unit. Further, the cammed portion 132 has been integrated with
the platen 117 or has been formed as the platen 117 itself.
However, the cammed portion and the platen may be separately
formed.
[Embodiment 2]
-
FIGS. 5 through 7 show a recording material cutting device
of an embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front
view corresponding to FIG. 3 of the embodiment 1, and FIG. 6
and FIG. 7 are enlarged front views of the vicinity of a cutter
blade. In FIGS. 5 through 7, the respective elements are
designated by reference numerals of 200's series, such that
reference numerals having the same lower 2-digits as those in
the figures showing the device of the embodiment 1 represent
those mutually identical or corresponding elements. Further,
there will be mainly described hereinafter the structure and
functions specific to the device of the embodiment 2, and there
shall be omitted the description concerning the elements which
have the same structure and functions as the device of the
embodiment 1.
-
In this embodiment 2, there is provided a cutter
supporting holder 240 (corresponding to "cutter blade fixing
means" recited in pertinent claims) made of plastics separately
from a cutter holder 222 (corresponding to "cutter blade
supporting means" recited in pertinent claims), and the cutter
supporting holder 240 fixingly holds at its tip end portion a
cutter blade 230. The cutter supporting holder 240 is rotatable
within a substantially vertical plane about a shaft 240a mounted
to the cutter holder 222. Formed integrally with the cutter
supporting holder 240 out of the same material as the cutter
supporting holder 240, via coupling portion 223a, is a seizing
member 223 so as to have an appropriate resiliency. Identically
with the embodiment 1, the side surface of the cutter blade 230
is held to be slightly inclined from a vertical plane.
-
As shown in FIG. 6, the device of this embodiment 2 is
provided with a cutter turning spring 241 (corresponding to
"turn-urging means" recited in pertinent claims) between the
cutter holder 222 and the cutter supporting holder 240. The
cutter turning spring 241 normally urges the cutter supporting
holder 240 to turn clockwise, and this urging force is set to
be smaller than the downward urging force of a cutter
pressurizing spring 220. This clockwise turn is restricted by
bumping a tip end portion 223b of the seizing member 223 formed
integrally with the cutter supporting holder 240 against a bump
portion 222a at the bottom of the cutter holder 222.
-
Identically with the embodiment 1, the cutter holder 222
is accommodated within a cutter case 221 in an upwardly and
downwardly moveable manner, and is normally urged downwardly
by the cutter pressurizing spring 220. Also, identically with
the embodiment 1: a hook pawl 224 formed integrally with the
cutter holder 222 engages with a recessed portion 229 provided
at the upper portion of the cutter case 221 during the stand-by
period of a cutter unit 212; the cutter unit 212 is moved toward
the leftmost portion of the traveling region of the cutter unit
212 upon starting the cutting motion of the recording material
213 such that the hook pawl 224 is struck by a hook pawl releasing
plate (not shown) and disengaged from the recessed portion 229
so that the cutter holder 222 is pushed down by the cutter
pressurizing spring 220; and the cutter holder 222 having
reached the end portion in the direction C is again lifted up
and held by the same members as the cutter roller 125 and the
roller guide 135 (see FIG. 4).
-
Upon the cutting motion for the recording material, the
cutter holder 222 is pushed down by the cutter pressurizing
spring 220 to thereby bring a flat surface 222b at the bottom
of the cutter holder 222 to abut onto the upstream side wall
of the cutter-aimed groove 131 (see FIG. 2) while interposing
the recording material 213 between the flat surface 222b and
the wall. Additionally, at the downstream side of the
cutter-aimed groove 131 (see FIG. 2), the bottom of the seizing
member 223 abuts onto a cammed surface of a cammed portion 232
in a state interposing the recording material 213 therebetween,
by the clockwise turn urging force of the cutter turning spring
241 and the resilient force of the seizing member 223. This
brings the cutter blade 230 into an appropriate depth within
the cutter-aimed groove 131. Upon starting the cutting motion,
the cutter blade 230 is brought into such a depth to cut the
recording material by the near-tip portion of the cutter blade
230. Simultaneously therewith, the recording material 213 is
tightly seized at the upstream and downstream side of the cutter
blade 230, to thereby effectively prevent the recording
material 213 from being twisted, creased or bent, particularly
upon starting the cutting motion.
-
During the cutting motion for the recording material 213,
the seizing member 223 abuts onto the upper surface of the cammed
portion 232 in a state interposing the recording material 213
therebetween, and the whole of the cutter unit 212 travels in
the left-to-right direction (direction of the arrow C) in FIG.
5. Identically with the embodiment 1, the upper surface of the
cammed portion 232 is formed with such a cammed surface having
a higher central portion, lower starting point side and lower
ending point side.
-
The whole of the cutter unit 212 travels in the arrow C
direction. As the height of the cammed portion 232 is gradually
raised, the position of the seizing member 223 is also raised.
At this time, the tip end portion 223b of the seizing member
223 bumps against the bump portion 222a to thereby restrict the
movement of the tip end portion 223b, so that the cutter
supporting holder 240 coupled to the seizing member 223 via
coupling portion 223a is turned counterclockwise against the
clockwise turn urging force of the cutter turning spring 241.
This counterclockwise turn of the cutter supporting holder 240
gradually increases the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade
230 into the recording material 213.
-
As shown in FIG. 7, when the cutter unit 212 has reached
the center of the cammed portion 232, the counterclockwise
turned angle of the cutter supporting holder 240 is maximized
and the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade 230 is also
maximized, thereby causing the cutter blade 230 to cut the
recording material 213 at the near-root portion of the cutter
blade 230. As the cutter unit 212 has passed the center of the
cammed portion 232 and further travels rightwardly, the cutter
supporting holder 240 is gradually brought back to its original
state and the cutting-in amount of the cutter blade 230 is also
gradually shallowed. At the time of reaching the rightmost
portion in FIG. 5, the cutter blade 230 has been brought back
into a state to cut the recording material 213 at the near-tip
portion of the cutter blade 230.
-
In this way, the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade 230
is varied along the cammed surface provided at the cammed
portion 232 to thereby eventually allow to cut the recording
material 213 by using the whole of the cutter blade 230,
identically with the embodiment 1. However, the height
difference in the cammed surface in this embodiment is made
smaller than the embodiment 1, based on the following reason.
-
It is common to this embodiment 2 and the embodiment 1
that the up-and-down displaced range of the cutter blade depends
on the height difference of the cammed surface. However, in the
device of the embodiment 1, the height difference of the cammed
surface directly leads to the cutting-in depth of the cutter
blade, due to the structure of the device. Contrary, in this
embodiment 2, the up-and-down displaced range of the cutter
blade 230 is varied such as due to the distance from the shaft
240a to the cutter blade 230 and the shape of the coupling portion
223a based on the above described structure and operation, even
when the height difference of the cammed surface is the same.
Thus, such as suitably designing the distance from the shaft
240a to the cutter blade 230 and/or the shape of the coupling
portion 223a allows to reduce the height difference of the
cammed surface while obtaining the same cutting-in depth of the
cutter blade as the embodiment 1.
-
As explained in the description of the embodiment 1,
upwardly and downwardly moving the cutter blade by providing
the cammed surface with the height difference allows to obtain
an effect to omit a tapered rail to thereby simplify the
structure of the device and to thereby prolong the service life
of the cutter blade. This may rather cause such a problem that
the increased height difference itself of the cammed surface
deteriorates the straightness of the cut portion of the
recording material.
-
Nonetheless, adopting the structure of this embodiment
2 allows to increase the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade
even by the small height difference of the cammed surface, to
thereby restrict the deterioration of the straightness of the
recording material upon cutting, as compared with the situation
of the embodiment 1.
-
In this embodiment 2, the cammed surface at the upper side
of the cammed portion 232 has been formed to have the higher
central portion, lower starting point side and lower ending
point side, as shown in FIG. 5. However, it is possible to form
the cammed surface such that one and the other of the starting
point and ending point are high and low, respectively, to
thereby form a simply tapered shape, or such that the high and
low portions are repeated several times along the traveling path
of the cutter unit. Further, the cammed portion 232 having the
cammed surface has been integrated with the platen 217 or has
been formed as the platen 217 itself. However, the cammed
portion and the platen may be separately provided.
[Embodiment 3]
-
FIGS. 8 and 9 show a recording material cutting device
of an embodiment 3, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are front views
corresponding to FIGS. 6 and 7 for the embodiment 2,
respectively. In FIGS. 8 and 9, the respective elements are
designated by reference numerals of 300's series, such that
reference numerals having the same lower 2-digits as those in
the figures showing the device of the embodiment 1 or 2 represent
those mutually identical or corresponding elements. Further,
there will be mainly described hereinafter the structure and
functions specific to the device of the embodiment 3, and there
shall be omitted the description concerning the elements which
have the same structure and functions as the device of the
embodiment 1 and embodiment 2.
-
In the embodiment 2, the cutter blade 230 have been
directly mounted on the cutter supporting holder 240 which is
rotatable about the shaft 240a, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
Contrary, this embodiment 3 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 has such
a structure to fixingly hold a cutter blade 330 at a lower end
portion of a cutter pressurizing holder 350 (corresponding to
"cutter blade fixing means" recited in pertinent claims) and
this cutter pressurizing holder 350 is coupled to a cutter
supporting holder 340 (corresponding to "cutter blade
translating means" recited in pertinent claims). This coupling
of the cutter pressurizing holder 350 to the cutter supporting
holder 340 is achieved by inserting: a projection 352 provided
at the left position of the cutter supporting holder 340, so
as to extend in the direction toward the reverse side of the
drawing plane; into an elongated slot 351 provided at the upper
portion of the cutter pressurizing holder 350.
-
The cutter pressurizing holder 350 is allowed to freely
translate upwardly and downwardly, if not coupled to the cutter
supporting holder 340. However, the up-and-down movement of the
cutter pressurizing holder 350 is limited by the projection 352
inserted in the slot 351, so that the cutter pressurizing holder
350 is allowed to consonantly translate upwardly and downwardly
only when the projection 352 moves upwardly and downwardly.
Further, the right and left movements of the cutter pressurizing
holder 350 are restricted by a side surface 322c of a cutter
holder 322 (corresponding to "cutter blade supporting means"
recited in pertinent claims) and a projection 353 provided at
the cutter holder 322.
-
The cutter supporting holder 340 is mounted onto the
cutter holder 322, in a swingable manner within a substantially
vertical plane about a shaft 340a. The seizing member 323 is
formed integrally with the cutter supporting holder 340 out of
the same material as the cutter supporting holder 340, via
coupling portion 323a, so as to have an appropriate resiliency.
Identically with the device of the embodiments 1 and 2, the
cutter blade 330 held at the tip end of the cutter pressurizing
holder 350 is slightly inclined from a vertical plane.
-
As shown in FIG. 8, provided between the bottom of the
cutter holder 322 and the cutter supporting holder 340 is a
cutter turning spring 341 (corresponding to "turn-urging means"
recited in pertinent claims) which normally urges the cutter
supporting holder 340 clockwise about the shaft 340a. Further,
the urging force of the cutter turning spring 341 is set to be
smaller than the downward urging force of a cutter pressurizing
spring 320 (corresponding to "urging means" recited in
pertinent claims). This clockwise turn is restricted by bumping
a tip end portion 323b of the seizing member 323 formed
integrally with the cutter supporting holder 340 against a bump
portion 322a at the bottom of the cutter holder 322.
-
Identically with the device of the embodiments 1 and 2,
the cutter holder 322 is accommodated within a cutter case 321
in an upwardly and downwardly moveable manner, and is normally
urged downwardly by the cutter pressurizing spring 320. Also,
identically with the device of the embodiments 1 and 2: a hook
pawl (not shown) formed integrally with the cutter holder 322
engages with a recessed portion (not shown) provided at the
upper portion of the cutter case 321 during the stand-by period
of a cutter unit 312; the cutter unit 312 is moved toward the
leftmost portion of the traveling region of the cutter unit 312
upon starting the cutting motion of the recording material 313
such that the hook pawl is struck by a hook pawl releasing plate
(not shown) and disengaged from the recessed portion so that
the cutter holder 322 is pushed down by the cutter pressurizing
spring 320; and the cutter holder 322 having reached the end
portion in the direction C is again lifted up and held by the
same members as the cutter roller 125 and the roller guide 135
(see FIG. 4).
-
Upon the cutting motion for the recording material, the
cutter holder 322 is downwardly urged by the cutter pressurizing
spring 320 to thereby bring a flat surface 322b at the bottom
of the cutter holder 322 to abut onto the upstream side wall
of the cutter-aimed groove 131 (see FIG. 2) while interposing
the recording material 313 between the flat surface 322b and
the wall. Additionally, at the downstream side of the
cutter-aimed groove 131 (see FIG. 2), the bottom of the seizing
member 323 abuts onto a cammed surface of a cammed portion 332
in a state interposing the recording material 313 therebetween,
by the clockwise turn urging force of the cutter turning spring
341 and the resilient force of the seizing member 323. This
brings the cutter blade 330 held at the tip end of the cutter
pressurizing holder 350, into an appropriate depth within the
cutter-aimed groove 131.
-
Upon starting the cutting motion, as shown in FIG. 8, the
cutter blade 330 is brought into such a depth to cut the recording
material by the near-tip portion of the cutter blade 330.
Simultaneously therewith, the recording material 313 is tightly
seized at the upstream and downstream side of the cutter blade
330, to thereby effectively prevent the recording material 313
from being twisted, creased or bent, particularly upon starting
the cutting motion.
-
During the cutting motion for the recording material 313,
the seizing member 323 abuts onto the upper surface of the cammed
portion 332 in a state interposing the recording material 313
therebetween, and the whole of the cutter unit 312 travels in
the left-to-right direction (direction of the arrow C) in FIG.
8. Identically with the device of the embodiments 1 and 2, the
upper surface of the cammed portion 332 is formed with such a
cammed surface having a higher central portion, lower starting
point side and lower ending point side.
-
The whole of the cutter unit 312 travels in the arrow C
direction. As the height of the cammed portion 332 is gradually
raised, the position of the seizing member 323 is also raised.
At this time, the tip end portion 323b of the seizing member
323 bumps against the bump portion 322a to thereby restrict the
movement of the tip end portion 323b, so that the cutter
supporting holder 340 coupled to the seizing member 323 via
coupling portion 323a is turned counterclockwise against the
clockwise turn urging force of the cutter turning spring 341.
-
This counterclockwise turn of the cutter supporting
holder 340 pushes down the cutter pressurizing holder 350
coupled to the cutter supporting holder 340 via projection 352
and slot 351, to thereby gradually increase the cutting-in depth
of the cutter blade 330 into the recording material 313. Further,
as shown in FIG. 9, when the cutter unit 312 has reached the
center of the cammed portion 332, the counterclockwise turned
amount of the cutter supporting holder 340 is maximized and the
cutting-in depth of the cutter blade 330 is also maximized,
thereby causing the cutter blade 330 to cut the recording
material 313 at the near-root portion of the cutter blade 330.
-
As the cutter unit 312 has passed the center of the cammed
portion 332 and further travels rightwardly, the cutter
supporting holder 340 is gradually brought back to its original
state and the cutting-in amount of the cutter blade 330 is also
gradually shallowed. At the time of reaching the rightmost
portion of the traveling region, the cutter blade 330 has been
brought back into a state to cut the recording material 313 at
the near-tip portion of the cutter blade 330.
-
In this way, the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade 330
is varied along the cammed surface provided at the cammed
portion 332 to thereby eventually allow to cut the recording
material 313 by the whole of the cutter blade 330, identically
with the device of the embodiments 1 and 2. Further, identically
with the device of the embodiment 2, the height difference in
the cammed surface in this embodiment 3 is made smaller than
the embodiment 1, so as to allow the whole of the cutter blade
330 to cut the recording material 313 while restricting the
deterioration of the straightness at the cut portion of the
recording material.
-
Further, the recording material cutting device of this
embodiment 3 has such a constitution that the upwardly and
downwardly translatable cutter pressurizing holder 350 is
provided separately from the cutter supporting holder 340, and
the cutter blade 330 is fixed at the lower end portion of the
cutter pressurizing holder 350. This allows an angle between
the edge surface and a horizontal plane to be normally kept
constant, even when the cutter supporting holder 340 is turned
to thereby change the cutting-in amount of the cutter blade 330.
-
In the embodiment 2, the cutter blade 230 has been
directly fixed to the cutter supporting holder 240, so that the
cutter blade 230 is turned together with the cutter supporting
holder 240 to be turned by the transition of the up-and-downness
of the cammed portion 232, to thereby change the angle defined
between the edge surface of the cutter blade 230 and a horizontal
plane. The variation of the angle leads to the variation of
the angle defined between the edge surface and the recording
material. The variation of the angle defined between the edge
surface and the recording material leads to the variation of
the cutting manner depending on the position of the recording
material, so that the stability of cutting may be lost.
-
Nonetheless, the constitution of the embodiment 3 renders
the angle defined between the edge surface of the cutter blade
330 and a horizontal plane to be normally constant, so that the
angle defined between the edge surface and the recording
material 313 is also kept substantially constant. This keeps
the cutting manner from changing depending on the position of
the recording material, thereby allowing the stable cutting of
the whole of the recording material.
-
Also, in the recording material cutting device of this
embodiment 3, the cammed surface at the upper side of the cammed
portion 332 has been formed to have the higher central portion,
lower starting point side and lower ending point side,
identically with the device of the embodiments 1 and 2. However,
it is possible to form the cammed surface such that one and the
other of the starting point and ending point are high and low,
respectively, to thereby form a simply tapered shape, or such
that the high and low portions are repeated several times along
the traveling path of the cutter unit. Further, the cammed
portion 332 has been integrated with the platen 317 or has been
formed as the platen 317 itself. However, the cammed portion
and the platen may be separately provided.
[Embodiment 4]
-
FIG. 10 shows a recording material cutting device of an
embodiment 4, and FIG. 10 corresponds to FIG. 2 showing the
embodiment 1. In FIG. 10, the respective elements are designated
by reference numerals of 400's series, such that reference
numerals having the same lower 2-digits as those in the figures
showing the device of the embodiments 1 through 3 represent
those mutually identical or corresponding elements. Further,
there will be mainly described hereinafter the structure and
functions specific to the device of the embodiment 4, and there
shall be omitted the description concerning the elements which
have the same structure and functions as the device of the
embodiments 1 through 3.
-
In each of the device of the embodiments 1 through 3, the
cutter blade has been mounted such that its side surface is
inclined from the vertical plane toward the upstream side in
the recording material transferring direction. This is to
improve the entering ability of the cutter blade upon starting
the cutting to thereby prevent the recording material from being
twisted, creased or bent, as already explained. Further, in each
of the aforementioned embodiments, there has been provided the
mechanism for changing, while the cutter unit travels from the
starting point toward the ending point, the relative height
between: the recording material; and the cutter holder 122
(embodiment 1), cutter supporting holder 240 (embodiment 2) or
cutter pressurizing holder 350 (embodiment 3) for holding the
cutter blade; so as to cut the recording material by using the
whole of the cutter blade to thereby prolong the service life
of the cutter blade.
-
However, when the cutter holder 122 (embodiment 1),
cutter supporting holder 240 (embodiment 2) or cutter
pressurizing holder 350 (embodiment 3) for holding the cutter
blade is merely moved upwardly and downwardly in a state where
the side surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the
vertical plane, the cutting position of the recording material
in the transferring direction (direction D) in cutting by the
near-tip portion of the cutter blade (i.e., in case of a shallow
cutting-in depth) becomes different from that in cutting by the
near-root portion of the cutter blade (i.e., in case of a deep
cutting-in depth). As such, the cut portion of the recording
material is brought to be not straight but slightly curved, in
a strict sense.
-
Thus, this embodiment 4 shown in FIG. 10 includes: a
cutter blade 430 fixed to a cutter supporting holder 440
corresponding to the cutter supporting holder 240 (see FIGS.
6 and 7) in the device of the embodiment 2, without inclining
the side surface of the cutter blade 430 relative to the cutter
supporting holder 440; and a cutter holder 422 having a shaft
440a inclinedly mounted to the cutter supporting holder 440 as
shown in FIG. 10. As a result, the side surface of the cutter
blade 430 is slightly inclined toward the upstream side in the
transferring direction (direction D) of a recording material
413 as shown in FIG. 10, to thereby provide such a turning-aimed
plane for the cutter supporting holder 440, which plane
is perpendicular to the drawing plane of FIG. 10 and which plane
includes an arrow S. This degree of the inclination shall be
the same as the inclination in fixing the cutter blade to the
holder in each of the embodiments 1 through 3.
-
By adopting such a mechanism, the moving direction of the
cutter blade 430 is kept parallel to the side surface thereof,
even when the cutter supporting holder 440 is turned to thereby
increase the cutting-in depth of the cutter blade 430. Thus,
the cutting position of the recording material in the
transferring direction (direction D) in cutting by the near-tip
portion of the cutter blade 430 (i.e., in case of a shallow
cutting-in depth) becomes substantially the same as that in
cutting by the near-root portion of the cutter blade 430 (i.e.,
in case of a deep cutting-in depth). This enables to effectively
restrict the deterioration of the straightness of the cut
portion of the recording material 413.
-
The recording material cutting device of this embodiment
4 has been related to the situation for providing the cutter
supporting holder 440 corresponding to the cutter supporting
holder 240 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) in the device of the embodiment
2, in an inclined manner. However, there can be obtained the
same functions and effects, by simply mounting the cutter
supporting holder 340 and the cutter pressurizing holder 350
(see FIGS. 8 and 9) in the device of the embodiment 3 in an
inclined manner by an appropriate angle identically with this
embodiment 4.
[Embodiment 5]
-
FIGS. 11 through 13 show a recording material cutting
device of an embodiment 5. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing
those pertinent portions of the recording material cutting
device of the embodiment 5 in an image-forming apparatus, FIG.
12 is a front view of the recording material cutting device of
FIG. 11 viewed from a downstream side in the transferring
direction (direction D), and FIG. 13 is also a front view of
the recording material cutting device viewed from a downstream
side in the transferring direction (direction D). Differently
from the device of the above described embodiments 1 through
4, the device of the embodiment 5 is of a type for upwardly and
downwardly moving a cutter blade by making use of a cutter rail.
In FIGS. 11 through 13, the respective elements are designated
by reference numerals of 500's series, such that reference
numerals having the same lower 2-digits as those in the figures
showing the embodiments 1 through 4 represent those mutually
identical or corresponding elements.
-
As shown in FIG. 11, there is transferred a recording
material 513 in the direction D on a platen 517 by transferring
means (not shown). Thus, the direction D is the downstream side
and the opposite direction is the upstream side. Installed above
the recording material 513 is a guiding rail 560 in a direction
perpendicular to the direction D, i.e., in the widthwise
direction of the recording material 513. The guiding rail 560
is mounted with a cutter base 561 slidable thereon. The cutter
base 561 has its right and left portions fixed with driving wires
562. Driving the wires 562 by driving means (not shown) allows
to reciprocally travel the cutter base 561 along the guiding
rail 560.
-
Provided at the lower right side of the cutter base 561
(corresponding to "cutter blade traveling means" recited in
pertinent claims) is a cutter arm 565 (corresponding to
"swinging means" recited in pertinent claims) which is
swingable about a pin 563. The cutter arm 565 is provided with
a rotatable guiding roller 564 (corresponding to "guiding
member" recited in pertinent claims). Further, provided at the
lower left side of the cutter base 561 is a cutter holder 566
(corresponding to "cutter blade fixing means" recited in
pertinent claims) having its lower end portion holding a cutter
blade 530, such that the cutter holder 566 is allowed to
translate upwardly and downwardly by a guiding portion 568. The
cutter holder 566 is normally urged upwardly by a spring 567
(corresponding to "urging means" recited in pertinent claims)
mounted above the cutter holder 566. Provided at that tip end
portion of the cutter arm 565 opposite to the pin 563 is a
projection 569 placed on a right shoulder portion of the cutter
holder 566. Based on the same reason as the embodiments 1 through
3, the cutter blade 530 is fixed to the lower end portion of
the cutter holder 566 such that the side surface of the cutter
blade is inclined downstream by a predetermined angle in the
transferring direction (direction D).
-
As shown in FIG. 11, installed separately from and
parallelly to the guiding rail 560 is a cutter rail 570
(corresponding to "rail means" recited in pertinent claims).
The cutter holder 566 is upwardly urged by the spring 567 as
described above, to thereby lift up the cutter arm 565 via
projection 569 placed on the shoulder portion of the cutter
holder 566. As a result, the guiding roller 564 provided at the
cutter arm 565 abuts onto the lower surface of the cutter rail
570.
-
As shown in FIG. 12, the lower surface of the cutter rail
570 is formed with cammed surfaces 570a, 570b, 570c having
heights varying along the longitudinal direction of the cutter
rail 570. The height of the pertinent cammed surface determines
the vertical position of the cutter arm 565, thus of the cutter
holder 566. Thus, as the cutter base 561 travels along the
guiding rail 560, the vertical position of the cutter holder
566 is changed to thereby change the vertical position of the
cutter blade 530 mounted to the lower portion of the cutter
holder 566. In this embodiment 5, the lower surface of the cutter
rail 570 has been formed with the cammed surfaces as shown in
FIGS. 12 and 13. However, it is possible to adopt different
cammed surfaces, such as having a simple upward or downward
taper shape, or having repeated up-and-downness.
-
FIG. 12 shows a state where the cutter base 561 has reached
a position just before the cutting position for a recording
material. Upon starting the cutting motion for the recording
material, the cutter base 561 starts traveling toward the right
(direction C) in FIG. 12. Then, the guiding roller 564 firstly
abuts onto the uppermost portion of the cammed surface 570a and
is then lowered along the inclination of the cammed surface 570a.
Simultaneously therewith, the cutter arm 565 is turned
counterclockwise so that the projection 569 provided at the tip
end of the cutter arm 565 pushes down the cutter holder 566
against the upward urging force of the spring 567, to thereby
gradually increase the cutting-in amount of the cutter blade
530 into the recording material 513. FIG. 13 shows a state where
the cutting-in depth has been just maximized so that the
recording material 513 is cut by the near-root portion of the
cutter blade 530.
-
When the cutter base 561 further travels in the direction
C such that the guiding roller 564 passes through the cammed
surface 570a, the guiding roller 564 is gradually raised along
the inclined surface of the cammed surface 570b. Simultaneously
therewith, the cutter arm 565 is gradually turned clockwise,
so that the cutter holder 566 is raised by the upward urging
force of the spring 567. Parallelly thereto, the cutting-in
amount of the cutter blade 530 into the recording material 513
is shallowed and the cutter blade 530 is brought into a state
to cut the recording material 513 at the near-tip portion of
the cutter blade. Thereafter, the cutter base 561 further
travels in the direction C such that the guiding roller 564 is
gradually lowered along the inclined surface of the cammed
surface 570c, so that the cutter arm 565 is gradually turned
counterclockwise to thereby push down the cutter holder 566
against the upward urging force of the spring 567.
-
In the device of the embodiment 5, the cutter holder 566
is provided separately from the turning cutter arm 565 when the
cutter holder 566 is moved upwardly and downwardly by the travel
of the cutter base 561, so that the cutter holder 566 is not
turned like the cutter arm 565 but simply translated upwardly
and downwardly. This keeps an angle η constant before and after
the lowering of the cutter blade 530, which angle η is defined
between the edge surface of the cutter blade 530 and the surface
of the recording material 513. As a result, the way to cut the
recording material 513 is unchanged even depending on the
position of the cutter base 561 as explained in the description
of the embodiment 3, thereby allowing the stable cutting
throughout the recording material. Further, the service life
of the cutter blade 530 is prolonged because the whole of the
cutter blade 530 is used to cut the recording material 513,
similarly to the above embodiments.
[Embodiment 6]
-
FIGS. 14 and 15 show a recording material cutting device
of an embodiment 6. FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing those
pertinent portions of the recording material cutting device of
the embodiment 6 in an image-forming apparatus, and FIG. 15 is
a cross-sectional view of the recording material cutting device
taken along, at a cutter blade portion, a vertical plane
including a straight line parallel to an arrow D in FIG. 14.
Similarly to the device of the embodiment 5, the device of the
embodiment 6 is of a type to upwardly and downwardly move a cutter
blade by a cutter rail. In FIGS. 14 and 15, the respective
elements are designated by reference numerals of 600's series,
such that reference numerals having the same lower 2-digits as
those in the figures showing the embodiments 1 through 5
represent those mutually identical or corresponding elements.
Further, there will be mainly described hereinafter the
structure and functions specific to the device of the embodiment
6, and there shall be omitted the description concerning the
elements which have the same structure and functions as the
device of the embodiment 5, for example.
-
Note, although the devices of the embodiment 6 and the
following embodiment include a cutter blade inclined in the
direction opposite to that in the aforementioned embodiments,
there can be achieved the same effect to avoid that the recording
material is twisted or creased upon starting the cutting.
-
In the recording material cutting device of the
embodiment 5, as described above, the cutter holder 566 has been
provided separately from the cutter arm 565 to thereby allow
the cutter blade 530 to translate upwardly and downwardly even
when the cutter arm 565 is turned. Further, to improve the
entering ability of the cutter blade 530 into the recording
material upon starting the cutting, the cutter blade 530 has
been held to the lower end portion of the cutter holder 566 such
that the side surface of the cutter blade is inclined downstream
by a predetermined angle in the transferring direction
(direction D), similarly to the device of the embodiments 1
through 3.
-
However, when the cutter holder 566 for holding the cutter
blade 530 is moved upwardly and downwardly in a state where the
side surface of the cutter blade is inclined from the vertical
plane, the cutting position of the recording material in the
transferring direction (direction D) in cutting by the near-tip
portion of the cutter blade (i.e., in case of a shallow
cutting-in depth) becomes different from that in cutting by the
near-root portion of the cutter blade (i.e., in case of a deep
cutting-in depth). As such, the cut portion of the recording
material is problematically brought to be not straight but
slightly curved, in a strict sense.
-
Thus, similarly to the device of the embodiment 4, the
embodiment 6 shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 includes a cutter blade
630 fixed to a lower end portion of a cutter holder 666, without
inclining the side surface of the cutter blade 630 relative to
the cutter holder 666. The cutter holder 666 holding the cutter
blade 630 is mounted to a cutter base 661 in a state inclined
in the transferring direction (direction D) by a predetermined
angle from a vertical plane. Further, this cutter holder 666
is allowed to move upwardly and downwardly by a guiding portion
668, along the plane parallel to the side surface of the cutter
blade 630. The degree of the inclination of the cutter base 661
is equalized to the inclined angle of the fixed cutter blade
in the embodiment 5.
-
The cutter holder 666 is urged upwardly by a spring 667,
and the upward movement of the cutter holder 666 is limited such
that the cutter holder 666 is provided with a projection 666a
which is abutted onto an arm 665 coupled to a guiding roller
664 which strikes a cammed surface at a lower side of a cutter
rail 670. As the cutter base 661 travels along a guiding rail
660 so that the guiding roller 664 is moved upwardly and
downwardly along the cammed surface of the cutter rail 670, the
cutter holder 666 is also moved within a plane parallel to the
side surface of the cutter blade 630.
-
By adopting such a mechanism, the cutting position of the
recording material in the transferring direction (direction D)
in cutting by the near-tip portion of the cutter blade 630 (i.e.,
in case of a shallow cutting-in depth) is unchanged from that
in cutting by the near-root portion of the cutter blade 630 (i.e.,
in case of a deep cutting-in depth). This enables to effectively
restrict the deterioration of the straightness of the cut
portion of the recording material 613.
[Embodiment 7]
-
There will be described hereinafter a recording material
cutting device of an embodiment 7. FIG. 16 is a diagonally front
perspective view of the whole of a color plotter (or merely
"plotter") as one type of image-forming apparatus, FIG. 17 is
a diagonally rear perspective view of the whole of the color
plotter of FIG. 16, and FIG. 18 is a partially cut-away
perspective view precisely showing the color plotter shown in
FIG. 16 and FIG. 17. This color plotter is of a type to use a
rolled paper as a recording material, and is provided with the
recording material cutting device of the embodiment 7 for
cutting the rolled paper.
-
Reference numeral 701 designates a plotter fixed at an
upper portion of a stand 702, at an easy-to-use height. Provided
at the bottom of the stand 702 are casters 702a, thereby allowing
to readily move the plotter 701. Provided at a controlling part
703 are various switches for controlling the plotter 701, so
that users are to use the switches to thereby input instructions
such as a size of paper, switching of online/offline and various
commands.
-
Set at the rear bottom portion of the plotter 701 is a
roll 704a of a recording material 704, such that the recording
material 704 drawn out from the roll 704a is inserted into an
arrow direction shown in FIG. 17 via insertion slot 705. The
recording material 704 inserted into the plotter 701 is color
printed based on the controlling instructions from the
controlling part 703 upon passing through an image forming area
to be described later, and then fed out in an arrow direction
in FIG. 16 via front side feeding slot 706.
-
There will be described hereinafter a transferring
operation of a recording material, and an image forming
operation (printing operation), for example, with reference to
FIG. 18. The recording material 704 inserted via rear side
insertion slot 705 (see FIG. 17) is passed on a paper-feed
guiding portion 707c of a platen 707, and is transferred in a
state clamped between: pinch rollers 709 rotatably mounted at
tip ends of rotatable pinch roller arms 708, respectively; and
a scanning roller 710; so as to pass through the image forming
area. The plotter 701 is provided with an inner fan rotating
in a direction to suck air via sucking holes 711 provided at
the platen 707. The recording material 704 is transferred, while
sucked to the surface of the platen 707 by an appropriate sucking
force caused by such rotation of the fan.
-
Installed above the platen 707 is a guiding rail 720 in
the widthwise direction of the recording material 704, and the
guiding rail 720 is mounted with a carriage 721 capable of
reciprocating between opposite ends of the guiding rail 720.
FIG. 18 shows a state where the carriage 721 has been brought
to a rightmost end portion of the guiding rail 720. The carriage
721 is fixed with a wire 724 stretched parallelly to the guiding
rail 720. When the wire 724 is driven in a direction C or
direction D by normally rotating or reversely rotating a
carriage driving motor (not shown), the carriage 721 is moved
in the direction C or direction D along the guiding rail 720.
-
The carriage 721 has a head holder 722 mounted with print
heads 723. Those print heads 723 are provided for colors
required for color printing, and the print heads 723 contain
ink of respective colors (such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and
black). The image forming area is established by that area
through which the print head 723 passes on the platen 707 when
the carriage 721 reciprocates.
-
The image formation is conducted when the carriage 721
is moved and the print heads 723 inject ink toward the recording
material 704 in the image forming area just below the print heads
723. In forming an image on the recording material 704, the
recording material 704 is temporarily stopped to thereby
conduct printing of 1 band, and upon completion of the printing
of 1 band, the recording material 704 is transferred by a
predetermined length to thereby print the next band. There is
formed one piece of image, by repeating such an operation, that
number of times which corresponds to the number of bands for
the image to be printed.
-
Upon completion of printing of one piece of image, the
recording material 704 is cut by a recording material cutting
device 730 according to the present invention. As shown in FIG.
18, the recording material cutting device 730 is mounted at a
slightly downstream side position (direction A side) in the
recording material transferring direction, relative to the head
holder 722 of the carriage 721. Generally, the cutting motions
for the recording material 704 are classified into: a motion
for downwardly protruding a cutter blade housed in the recording
material cutting device 730 to thereby insert the cutter blade
into a cutter-aimed groove 731 provided at the platen 707; a
motion for moving the carriage 721, in a state where the cutter
blade is inserted in the cutter-aimed groove 731, from the
leftmost end portion in FIG. 18 in a direction indicated by an
arrow D to thereby cut the recording material 704; and a motion
for housing the cutter blade into the recording material cutting
device 730 again after completing the cutting.
-
There will be described hereinafter the structure and
cutting motion of the recording material cutting device 730
according to the embodiment 7. Each of FIGS. 19 through 22 is
a view (partially cut-away front view) of the recording material
cutting device 730 viewed from a downstream side of the
transferring direction of the recording material 704. Further,
FIG. 23 is a side view of the recording material cutting device
730 viewed from the left side of FIG. 19 through FIG. 22, and
FIG. 24 is a front view for explaining a member provided at an
upper portion of a holder 743 so as to engage with the carriage
721.
-
As shown in FIGS. 23 and 24, provided at the upper portion
of the holder 743 is an engaging member 743b integrally with
the holder 743. As shown in FIG. 18, this engaging member 743b
allows the recording material cutting device 730 to be readily
mounted onto the carriage 721 and to be readily dismounted from
the carriage 721.
-
As shown in FIGS. 19 through 22, the recording material
cutting device 730 is constituted to include: a cutter slider
740 (corresponding to "accommodating means" recited in
pertinent claims); a guiding roller 742 rotatably mounted to
the cutter slider 740; the holder 743 (corresponding to a part
of "traveling means" recited in pertinent claims) which
contains the cutter slider 740 therein and which is mountable
to the carriage 721; and a spring 741 (corresponding to "urging
means" recited in pertinent claims) located between the upper
portion of the cutter slider 740 and the holder 743 to thereby
urge the cutter slider 740 downwardly (direction F). Note, in
FIGS. 19 through 22, there are omitted members at this side of
the holder 743, so as to clarify the inner state of the holder
743.
-
As shown in FIGS. 19 through 22, the spring 741 has: an
upper end portion accommodated in a spring accommodating
portion within the holder 743, and a lower end portion inserted
with an elongated projection 740b (see FIGS. 27 through 30)
provided at the upper portion of the cutter slider 740. This
restricts the lateral movement of the spring 741, while allowing
only the vertical expanding and contracting motion of the spring
741.
-
Further, as shown in FIGS. 25 through 28 to be described
later, provided within the cutter slider 740 are: a blade slider
751 (corresponding to "holding means" recited in pertinent
claims) mounted with a cutter blade 750 (corresponding to a
"cutter blade" recited in pertinent claims); a leaf spring 752
(corresponding to "second urging means" recited in pertinent
claims) for upwardly urging the blade slider 751 within the
cutter slider 740; and a dial 753 (corresponding to "changeover
means" recited in pertinent claims) for adjusting the vertical
position of the blade slider 751 within the cutter slider 740.
-
Note, in the recording material cutting device 730 of the
embodiment 7, the whole of the blade slider 751 is replaced
without replacing the cutter blade 750 only, such as when the
cutter blade 750 has been broken or the cutter blade 750 has
finished the service life. This allows those users unfamiliar
with the usage of the recording material cutting device to
safely conduct the replacing operation.
-
FIG. 19 shows a situation during which no cutting motions
are conducted. Then, as shown in FIG. 19 and FIG. 23, two hooking
members 740a provided integrally with the cutter slider 740 are
hooked to associated members 743a provided at the holder 743.
Thus, the cutter slider 740 is held at an upper position within
the holder 743, against the downward (direction F) urging force
by the spring 741.
-
When the plotter 701 receives an instruction from the
controlling part 703 to cut the recording material 704, the
carriage 721 is firstly moved in the direction C along the
guiding rail 720, to thereby reach the left end of the moveable
region. FIG. 20 shows this situation. Provided at the left end
of the guiding rail 720 is a hook releasing plate 760. When the
carriage 721 mounted with the recording material cutting device
730 reaches the left end of the guiding rail 720, the hooking
members 740a are struck by hook releasing ribs 760a of the hook
releasing plate 760 so that the hooking members 740a are
disengaged from the members 743a provided at the holder 743.
-
When the hooking members 740a are disengaged from the
members 743a, the cutter slider 740 having been downwardly urged
by the spring 741 is instantaneously lowered. Relatedly, when
the hooking members 740a are disengaged from the members 743a
in a state where the recording material cutting device 730 is
dismounted from the carriage 721, the cutter slider 740 is
lowered by the spring 741 until the hooking members 740a are
hooked to members 743b provided at the holder 743. However, when
the recording material cutting device 730 has been mounted to
the carriage 721, the seizing member 744 (corresponding to
"seizing means" recited in pertinent claims) provided at the
lower end of the cutter slider 740 abuts onto the upper portion
of a downstream side wall of the cutter-aimed groove 731 (see
FIG. 33 to be described later) before the hooking members 740a
are hooked to the members 743b, to thereby stop the lowering
of the cutter slider 740.
-
At this time, the downward urging force to the cutter
slider 740 based on the spring 741 is received by such an action
that the seizing member 744 yields about 744b so that a bump
portion 744a provided at the seizing member 744 bumps against
the lower end portion of the cutter slider 740. When the seizing
member 744 is further artificially pushed upwardly in the state
where the bump portion 744a is struck against the lower end
portion of the cutter slider 740, the spring 741 yields and the
cutter slider 740 is lifted up within the holder 743. This also
lifts up the blade slider 751, cutter blade 750 and leaf spring
752 which are housed within the cutter slider 740, together with
the cutter slider 740.
-
When the seizing member 744 yields so that the bump
portion 744a is struck by the lower end portion of the cutter
slider 740, the tip portion of the cutter blade 750 downwardly
protruded beyond the seizing member 744 of this state is brought
into the cutter-aimed groove 731 (see FIG. 18) provided in the
platen 707 upon the cutting operation. Moving the carriage 721
in this state along the guiding rail 720 in the direction D
(rightward direction in FIGS. 19 through 22) cuts the recording
material 704 placed on the platen 707. At this time, the seizing
member 744 assuredly seizes the recording material 704, thereby
enabling to avoid that the recording material 704 is buckled
or bent upon starting the cutting. The amount of the cutter blade
750 downwardly protruding beyond the seizing member 744
(protruding amount) can be adjusted by the method to be
described later.
-
Note, while cutting the recording material 704, the
seizing member 744 abuts onto the upper portion of a downstream
side wall 707a (cammed portion) of the cutter-aimed groove 731,
with clamping the recording material 704 between such an upper
portion and the seizing member 744. Further, the cutter blade
750 is designed to come close to an upstream side wall 707b within
the cutter-aimed groove 731 (see FIG. 33 to be described later).
Thus, the recording material 704 is cut by that region of the
cutter blade 750, which is positioned at the substantially same
level or height as the upper portion of the upstream side wall
707b of the cutter-aimed groove 731.
-
Provided at the right end of the travelable range of the
carriage 721 is a guiding rib 745 (see FIG. 18, FIG. 21 and FIG.
22). When the recording material cutting device 730 having
finished cutting the recording material 704 has reached this
position of the guiding rib 745, the guiding roller 742 abuts
onto the inclined surface of the guiding rib 745. As shown in
FIG. 22, further rightward movement of the recording material
cutting device 730 causes the guiding roller 742 to be rotated
and raised along the inclined surface, to thereby gradually lift
up the whole of the cutter slider 740 including the cutter blade
750. When the guiding roller 742 reaches near the top of the
guiding rib 745, the hooking members 740a are brought to hook
to the members 743a so that the cutter slider 740 is again held
at the upper position within the holder 743 against the downward
(direction F) urging force by the spring 741.
-
There will be described hereinafter the way to adjust the
protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 with reference to FIGS.
25 through 31. FIG. 25 is a rear view of the recording material
cutting device 730 shown in FIG. 24, and FIG. 26 is a partially
cut-away view of the holder shown in FIG. 25, for explaining
the inner structure of the holder. FIGS. 27 through 30 are views
of a unit (hereinafter called "interior unit") taken out from
the interior of the holder 743. FIG. 29 is a view showing a state
where a disc-like dial 753 is sectioned at a central portion
in a thickness direction of the dial along a plane parallelly
to the obverse and reverse faces of the dial, FIG. 30 is a view
showing a state where the dial 753 is detached from the interior
unit while partly cutting away a blade slider 751, and FIG. 31
is a view showing a reverse side of the dial 753.
-
As shown in FIGS. 27 through 30, the aforementioned
interior unit comprises: the cutter slider 740; the blade slider
751 mounted with the cutter blade 750; the leaf spring 752 of
a U-shape; and the dial 753 for adjusting the vertical position
of the blade slider 751 within the cutter slider 740.
-
As shown in FIG. 30, provided within the cutter slider
740 is a boss 746 protruding in the reverse-to-obverse direction
of the drawing plane, and the U-shape leaf spring 752 is mounted
such that the boss 746 comes inside the bent portion of the
U-shape. So as to cover them from the above, the blade slider
751 is accommodated into the cutter slider 740. At this time,
both ends of the leaf spring 752 tending to expand outwardly
(up-and-down direction in FIG. 30) are interposed between: a
projection 754 provided at the cutter slider 740 in the
reverse-to-obverse direction of FIG. 30; and a projection 755
provided at the reverse side of the blade slider 751 in the
obverse-to-reverse direction in FIG. 30. Mounting the blade
slider 751 in this way causes the blade slider 751 to be upwardly
urged within the cutter slider 740 by the U-shaped leaf spring
752 tending to expand outwardly.
-
As shown in FIG. 30, the blade slider 751 is further
provided with: a boss 751a protruding in the reverse-to-obverse
direction of the drawing plane; and a vertically elongated
through-hole 751b.
-
As shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, the disc-like dial 753 is
inscribed with numbers from "1" to "5", along the circumference
at the obverse side of the disc-like dial 753. As shown in FIG.
31, the reverse side of the dial 753 is provided with: a central
shaft 753a protruding in the reverse-to-obverse direction in
FIG. 31; and a groove 753b formed by cutting out the surface
of the reverse side of the dial 753. The groove 753b comprises
five straight portions 753b1 through 753b5 which continuously
bend to thereby surround the central shaft 753a. The distances
of the straight portions 753b1 through 753b5 from the central
shaft 753a are stepwise increased in this order. Further, the
width of each of the straight portions 753b1 through 753b5 is
set at a dimension for allowing the aforementioned boss 751a
to be just inserted.
-
In mounting the dial 753 into the cutter slider 740, the
central shaft 753a at the reverse side of the dial 753 is inserted
into the through-hole 751b of the blade slider 751 shown in FIG.
30, and the boss 751a of the blade slider 751 is inserted into
the groove 753b at the reverse side of the dial 753. As described
above, the leaf spring 752 upwardly urges the blade slider 751,
so that the dial 753 is urged upwardly via boss 751a provided
at the blade slider 751 and via groove 753b inserted with the
boss 751a. This presses the upper portion of the dial 753 against
an upper portion 740c within the cutter slider 740.
-
The thus assembled interior unit is housed in the holder
743, by inserting the unit from the lower end portion of the
holder 743 such that the elongated projection 740b upwardly
provided at the upper portion of the cutter slider 740 is
inserted into the lower end portion of the spring 741. The thus
completed recording material cutting device 730 is mounted onto
the carriage 721 by the aforementioned procedure.
-
When the interior unit has been housed within the holder
743, as shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, either of the numbers from
"1" to "5" inscribed at the circumference of the obverse side
of the dial 753 becomes visible via dial window 747 provided
at the side portion of the holder 743. As shown in FIG. 25, the
holder 743 is inscribed with, near the dial window 747: an arrow
748a for pointing that number of dial 753 which is visible via
dial window 747; and an arrow 748b for pointing the turning
direction of the dial 753. The arrow 748a points the number "1"
of the dial 753 in FIG. 25, and the number "5" of the dial 753
in FIG. 26.
-
Users are allowed to rotate the dial by manually touching
the circumference of the dial 753 exposed via dial window 747.
Note, the dial 753 is exposed via dial window 747, only during
the stand-by period where the hooking members 740a are hooked
to the members 743a so that the cutter slider 740 is held at
the upper position within the holder 743. During the cutting
motion where the hooking members 740a are disengaged from the
members 743a, it is impossible to rotate the dial 753.
-
Note, based on the reasons to be described later, the
direction for rotating the dial 753 shall be limited, in the
embodiment 7, to the direction indicated by the arrow 748b
(clockwise direction in FIG. 25), i.e., the direction where the
numbers visible via dial window 747 are increased.
-
The numbers from "1" to "5" inscribed at the circumference
of the obverse side of the dial 753 correspond to those straight
portions 753b1 through 753b5 of the groove 753b formed at the
reverse side of the dial 753, respectively. Further, the
straight portions 753b1 through 753b5 correspond to five steps
of protruding amounts of the cutter blade 750, respectively.
-
In FIG. 29, the straight portion 753b1 of the groove 753b
of the dial 753 is located at the lowermost position, i.e. , at
the position of the boss 751a provided at the blade slider 751.
At this time, the number visible via dial window 747 (i.e., the
number pointed by the arrow 748a) is "1". This state is shown
in FIG. 25 and FIG. 27. Conducting the cutting motion in this
state leads to the minimum protruding amount of the cutter blade
750 downwardly from the cutter slider 740, so that the recording
material 704 is cut by the tip portion of the cutter blade 750.
-
From this state, by rotating the dial 753 in the direction
of the arrow 748b in FIG. 25 to thereby switch the number pointed
by the arrow 748a to "2", the straight portion 753b2 of the groove
753b of the dial 753 comes to the boss 751a provided at the blade
slider 751. As described above, since the distance from the
central shaft 753a to the straight portion 753b2 is greater than
the distance from the central shaft 753a to the straight portion
753b1, the above switching: pushes down the boss 751a; yields
the leaf spring 752 in the closing direction; moves down the
blade slider 751 by one step; and increases the downward
protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 upon the cutting
motion.
-
Further from this state, by rotating the dial 753 in the
direction of the arrow 748b in FIG. 25 to thereby increase the
value of number pointed by the arrow 748a, the leaf spring 752
further yields in the closing direction and the blade slider
751 is gradually moved downwardly step by step. When the number
pointed by the arrow 748a becomes "5", the blade slider 751 has
been moved to the lowermost position so that the downward
protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 becomes the maximum
upon the cutting motion.
-
As the protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 upon the
cutting motion is increased, the region of the cutter blade 750
for cutting the recording material 704 approaches the root of
the cutter blade 750. Thus, by restricting the direction for
rotating the dial 753 to the direction indicated by the arrow
748b as described above, the region of the cutter blade 750 for
cutting the recording material 704 firstly set at the near-tip
portion, and such a region for cutting the recording
material 704 is gradually or stepwise moved toward the root of
the cutter blade 750 each time the dial 753 is rotated by a user
to thereby switch the number pointed by the arrow 748a.
-
In this way, by providing the mechanism for stepwise
switching the protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 upon
the cutting operation, it becomes possible to effectively use
the whole edge surface of the cutter blade 750 by conducting
the switching operation at intervals of appropriate periods,
to thereby prolong the service life of the cutter blade and
reduce the replacement frequency of cutter blades.
-
Further, in the recording material cutting device 730 of
the embodiment 7, since the direction for rotating the dial 753
is restricted to the direction (clockwise direction in FIG. 25)
indicated by the arrow 748b as described above, those portions
of the edge surface of the cutter blade 750, which are downwardly
protruded beyond the seizing member 744 upon the cutting
operation, are to have been already used. Further, the unused
portions of the edge surface of the cutter blade 750 are
necessarily positioned above the seizing member 744. Thus, even
when the cutting device happens to cause the cutter blade 750
to forcibly enter the recording material 704 such as in case
that the recording material is buckled or bent due to the wear
of the edge surface and/or an unexpected accident, the seizing
member 744 prevents the deformed recording material from
striking the unused portions of the cutter blade 750. Thus, the
unused portions of the cutter blade 750 are never broken.
Moreover, even if the used portions of the cutter blade are
broken in such an accidental situation, the broken portions are
never used thereafter to cut the recording material 704, thereby
excluding the necessity for replacing the cutter blade 750 until
the unused portions are exhausted, i.e. , used up. This allows
to keep using the cutter blade 750 up to its inherent service
life.
-
Further, even those users unfamiliar with the usage of
the recording material cutting device are allowed to assuredly
switch the cutting region of the cutter blade 750 to the region
to be used next, because the numbers from "1" to "5" are inscribed
at the circumference of the dial 753 for switching the
protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 upon the cutting
operation, and because there are inscribed near the dial window
747 the arrow 748a for pointing the pertinent number of the dial
753 and the arrow 748b for pointing the rotating direction of
the dial 753. This substantially avoids such mistakes that the
cutter blade 750 is replaced while leaving the unused portions,
and/or that the already used and worn portion of the cutter blade
is used again to thereby bend and/or buckle the recording
material 704.
-
In the recording material cutting device 730 of the
embodiment 7, it is structurally possible to rotate the dial
753 in the direction opposite to the arrow 748b. In this regard,
it is easy to adopt such a mechanism (so-called "one-way type")
for inhibiting the dial 753 from being oppositely rotated, to
thereby assuredly avoid the repeated usage of those used regions
of the cutter blade. However, in such a mechanism, erroneously
over-rotating the dial in case of switching to the due next
number leads to failure of using those regions of the cutter
blade corresponding to the skipped numbers, to thereby impose
replacement of the cutter blade still having the unused
portions.
-
As such, to allow to assuredly change over the cutting
regions of the cutter blade in a correct order without
complicating the mechanism, it is assumed to be desirable that
the circumference of the dial 753 is inscribed or described with
characters and marks such as numbers, and that the arrow 748b
for indicating the rotating direction of the dial 753 is
described at a position readily visible to users, like the
recording material cutting device 730 of the embodiment 7. Of
course, where it is allowed to adopt a mechanism complicated
to a certain extent, it is possible to basically adopt the
aforementioned one-way type and to additionally adopt such a
mechanism: to permit only one step of switching by a single
rotating motion; or to require two motions (actions) for one
step of switching. This reduces, in a more assured manner, the
risk of using again the used regions of the cutter blade to
thereby cause the recording material to be bent and/or buckled.
This also enables to use the regions of the cutter blade in the
correct order. Such mechanisms are included in the technical
scope recited in pertinent claims.
-
Meanwhile, the cutter blade 750 is allowed to be used in
a manner to fulfill its inherent service life in the recording
material cutting device 730 of the embodiment 7 as described
above, by rotating the dial 753 in the particular direction to
thereby change over the cutting region of the cutter blade in
the predetermined order from the near-tip portion toward the
near-root portion. However, if the cutting region of the cutter
blade is newly changed over by the dial 753 and the new region
which is one point of the cutter blade is then kept used, this
cutting region is immediately abraded to thereby require the
operation for again changing over the cutting region in a short
time. This results in the shortened service life of the cutter
blade 750.
-
As such, the embodiment 7 is constituted to cut the
recording material concerning the respective switchable
regions of the cutter blade, not by only one point of the cutter
blade but by a certain width of the pertinent region. This will
be described hereinafter.
-
FIG. 32 is a view showing a state of the platen 707 of
the plotter 701 when viewed from the downstream side of the
recording material transferring direction of FIG. 18, and FIG.
33 is an X-X cross-sectional view of the platen 707 shown in
FIG. 32. As shown in FIG. 33, the cutter-aimed groove 731
provided at the platen 707 is interposed between the downstream
side cammed portion 707a and the upstream side wall 707b. As
shown in FIG. 32, although the upstream side wall 707b is flat,
the downstream side cammed portion 707a is formed to be high
at the central portion and low at the opposite ends along the
traveling direction (direction C or direction D) of the carriage
721. Note, in FIG. 32, the cammed portion 707a is exaggerated
as compared with the actual configuration, to further clarify
the height difference of the cammed portion 707a. In the actual
device, the height difference of the cammed portion 707a is on
the order of 0.8 mm when the width of the recording material
704 is 1,000 mm.
-
As shown in FIG. 33, the seizing member 744 seizes the
recording material 704 onto the cammed portion 707a, while
cutting the recording material 704. At this time, since the bump
portion 744a of the seizing member 744 abuts onto the lower end
portion of the cutter slider 740 (see FIG. 20) as described above,
the up-and-down movement of the seizing member 744 along the
cammed portion 707a causes the cutter blade 750 to upwardly and
downwardly move simultaneously therewith.
-
Namely, in conducting the cutting motion, as the
recording material cutting device 730 travels from the left end
toward the central portion in FIG. 32, the height of the cammed
portion 707a is gradually increased to thereby lift up the
cutter blade 750, thereby correspondingly shallowing the
cutting-in amount of the cutter blade 750 into the cutter-aimed
groove 731. Simultaneously therewith, that region of the cutter
blade 750 for cutting the recording material 704 is gradually
shifted toward the tip end. Thereafter, as the recording
material cutting device 730 travels toward the right end after
passing over the central portion, the height of the cammed
portion 707a is gradually reduced to thereby lower the position
of the cutter blade 750, thereby increasing the cutting-in depth
of the cutter blade 750 into the cutter-aimed groove 731. Thus,
that region of the cutter blade for cutting the recording
material 704 is gradually shifted toward the root.
-
FIG. 34 is a view showing a way as to how the cutting region
of the cutter blade 750 for the recording material 704 is changed
correspondingly to the changeover motion of the protruding
amount of the cutter blade 750 as described above and to the
traveling motion of the cutter blade 750 along the cammed
portion 707a.
-
As described above, when that number (pointed by the arrow
748a) of the dial 753 which is visible via dial window 747 is
"1", the protruding amount of the cutter blade 750 is the minimum
so that the recording material 704 is cut by the most near-tip
portion of the cutter blade 750. This region corresponds
a cutting-position 1 in FIG. 34. Similarly, the numbers "2",
"3", "4" and "5" of the dial correspond to cutting-positions
2,3,4 and 5, respectively. As the recording material cutting
device 730 travels in the left-to-right direction along the
cammed portion 707a in FIG. 32, the cutting-in amount of the
cutter blade 750 into the cutter-aimed groove 731 is changed
as described above, so that the cutting region is changed even
for the same cutting-position.
-
For example, when the number of the dial 753 is set at
the number "1" to thereby select the cutting-position 1, the
recording material 704 is firstly cut by the highest (nearest
to the root) cutting-position 1H in the region of the
cutting-position 1. As the recording material cutting device
730 travels rightwardly, the cutting region is gradually
shifted downwardly within the cutting-position 1, so that the
recording material is cut by the lowest (nearest to the tip end)
cutting-position 1L in the region of the cutting-position 1,
at the central portion of the cammed portion 707a. Thereafter,
as the recording material cutting device 730 further travels
rightwardly, the cutting region is gradually shifted upwardly
within the cutting-position 1, so that the recording material
is again cut by the highest cutting-position 1H at the rightmost
portion of the cammed portion 707a. As described above, since
the height difference of the cammed portion 707a is set at about
0.8 mm, the height difference between the cutting-position 1H
and cutting-position 1L is also set at about 0.8 mm. The same
rule applies correspondingly to the other cutting-positions 2
through 5.
-
In FIG. 34, neighboring two cutting-positions have not
been mutually overlapped at all. However, it is possible to
slightly overlap neighboring two cutting-positions each other,
in the following situation.
-
It is most likely for a recording material to be bent or
buckled, upon breaking into the recording material where the
cutter blade impinges on the side end portion of the recording
material at a substantially right angle. Contrary, once the
cutter blade has successfully entered the recording material
to thereby start cutting, it is less likely for the recording
material to be bent or buckled even when the cutting quality
of the cutter blade is deteriorated more or less. Thus, there
is required the best cutting quality at the time when the cutter
breaks into the recording paper, upon cutting the recording
material.
-
Thus, by adopting such a design as shown in FIG. 34 that
the cutting-position is sequentially or stepwise changed over
in the direction from the tip end toward the root of the cutter
blade 750 and that the cutting is started from the near-root
portion (for example, 1H in the cutting-position 1) in the same
cutting-position, that (less used) region of the cutter blade
upon breaking into the recording material is always allowed to
keep the best cutting quality within the region of the pertinent
cutting-position even if neighboring two cutting-positions are
slightly overlapped each other. In such a situation, it is
allowed to mutually overlap those neighboring two cutting-positions
more or less.
-
This enables to prevent the respective portions of the
cutter blade from being unused, to thereby allow to effectively
use the cutter blade. Still more, mutually overlapping
neighboring two cutting-positions permits to increase the
number of cutting-positions shown in FIG. 34, thereby allowing
to further prolong the service life of the cutter blade.
-
In the above, the shape of the cammed portion 707a has
been formed to be high at the central portion and low at the
starting point side and ending point side. However, it is
possible to form the cammed surface such that one and the other
of the starting point and ending point are high and low,
respectively, to thereby form a simply tapered shape, or such
that the high and low portions are repeated several times
between the starting point and the ending point.
-
The present invention has been described concerning the
embodiments thereof. However, the present invention is not
limited to the above embodiments, and may be of course variously
modified within the spirit of the invention defined in the
accompanying claims, and such modifications are also embraced
within the pertinent technical scope of the invention.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
-
As described above, the present invention can be applied
to recording material cutting devices to be used in an ink-jet
recording device and color plotter such as exemplified in
the section of "BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION", and
in various image-forming apparatus such as a printer, facsimile
and copying machine, and can be particularly applied to
recording material cutting devices to be preferably utilized
in an image-forming apparatus capable of forming an image on
a recording material of a large length.